By Debra Maslowski
This homemade corn chips recipe is simple! It’s also easy to customize to flavor preferences or diet restrictions, like vegan or gluten-free.
When the weather gets cooler, I tend to stay inside more and watch tv. There’s nothing like curling up on the couch with a warm blanket and a good movie when it’s cold and raining outside. And warm drinks and snacks are a must! Corn chips are one of my favorites, but they have so much salt in them. And what about the corn? Most corn is GMO now. I know I can do better than that!
Sourcing Corn and Cornmeal
For this corn chips recipe, we recommend using non-GMO ingredients. I’m lucky enough to work at an agricultural college that grows a lot of its own crops. Corn for the cattle is just one of the things we grow, and we only use heirloom varieties. My current favorite is Bloody Butcher. It’s field corn, as opposed to sweet corn which is used fresh, that is dried and ground into cornmeal. The color is a stunning dark red to burgundy. When it is ground, the cornmeal looks like it has burgundy specks in it, making a very pretty corn muffin or cornbread.
Heirloom Varieties of Corn
Obviously, you don’t have to use heirloom corn in this corn chip recipe, but you can if you want! There are many heirloom varieties of corn available. Some, like Glass Gem, which has pastel-colored corn kernels that are somewhat translucent, and blue corn, which has a dark blue to navy color. You can find these and more in many seed catalogs and online at places like Vitacost or Amazon.
Homemade Corn Chips Recipe
This homemade corn chips recipe is simple! It's also easy to customize to flavor preferences or diet restrictions, like vegan or gluten-free.
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Active Time
- 10 minutes
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Servings
- 2 people
- Course
- Snacks
- Cuisines
- American, Mexican
- Estimated Cost
- $1
Ingredients
Instructions
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To begin making this corn chips recipe, first mix your cornmeal and flour together.
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Add the oil and mix well.
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Add enough water to make a paste, but keep it on the drier side and mix well.
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When the paste forms a dough, sprinkle some cornmeal on a cutting board and roll out the dough. Sprinkle the dough every so often to keep it from sticking. Roll out as thin as you like. I like mine a bit thicker so they will hold on to dips without breaking.
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Cut to the size you want and place it on a greased baking sheet.
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Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 375°F. Keep an eye on them as thinner chips can get done and burn much faster than thicker ones.
Nutrition:
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Flavor Your Homemade Corn Chips
With this homemade corn chip recipe, you can make it to your own specifications. I like just a bit of salt in mine, especially when you don’t want the flavor of the chip to take over the dip. But if you like, flavoring them is simple too. Here are a few suggestions:
Ranch
Add a Tablespoon of ranch dressing mix to the dry ingredients.
Italian
Add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning mix to the dry ingredients, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before baking.
Mexican
To add a Mexican flavor to this corn chips recipe simply add a teaspoon of cumin and a half teaspoon of chili powder to the dry ingredients.
Salt and pepper
Add a teaspoon (more or less, depending on taste) of salt and a few grinds of fresh ground pepper to the dry ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar
Add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and raw sugar to the dry ingredients, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking.
There is no end to the combinations you can use in this corn chips recipe so be creative and have fun!
Vegan and Gluten-Free Corn Chips
Going vegan? Most of these are vegan-friendly. You can substitute nutritional yeast for the cheese and it will taste similar.
Going gluten-free? Corn in its natural form is gluten-free, but some people with gluten intolerance seem to have problems with it. You may want to substitute something you know will be ok, like quinoa, flax, or millet. Grind these like cornmeal and use them the same way.
Do you have a favorite homemade corn chips recipe? Tell us about it!
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If you can’t have gluten ,what do you use instead of flour? Thank you
I would try using gluten-free flour. I’ve seen Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Bob’s Red Mill, King Arthur and several more brands of gluten free flours. Some are blends or baking mixes and some are almond, coconut, tapioca, etc. Some are used 1:1 and sometimes you need to adjust your recipe. Coconut flour, for example, requires more liquid or you can sometimes use less flour. It depends on the recipe but you can find out how to do that on the internet. Sometimes it’s a learning process but they work well.